Mu Sigma business was impacted but we feel stronger now: CEO Dhiraj Rajaram

Dhiraj Rajaram has taken over as Mu Sigma's CEO to bring the mojo back to the 12 year-old companyAvik Das&Shilpa Phadnis | TNN | October 05, 2016, 10:09 IST

Mu Sigma made news for reasons other than their business in recent past. The Chicago and Bengaluru-based data sciences company, which counts Microsoft and Wal-Mart as customers, underwent stress after its founder couple Dhiraj Rajaram and Ambiga Subramanian parted ways in May raising concerns about the leadership and the future course of the company.

Burying the past, Rajaram has taken over as CEO to bring the mojo back to the 12 year-old company. Excerpts as an interview with the founder of the Indian unicorn.

Mu Sigma was in a bit of flux due to uncertainty around its leadership. Is the worst behind you?

There has been an impact on the business because of distractions. At a personal level, it’s been harsh. The developments went more public than I would have liked it to be. It is easier to be in a place without uncertainty, we have indeed lost a few people, but it is a test we have been through and we feel stronger now. There were gut wrenching moments…it wasn’t easy. Every crisis is a catalyst for change.

There were concerns around low-balling the company’s valuation. There are different numbers thrown from $700 million to $1.2 billion. Where does it currently stand?

We don’t want to talk about it. It’s an internal family matter. It’s between me and Ambiga. When another investor comes on board, valuation will get set.

Have you lost customers or key accounts to your competitors like Fractal Analytics?

From a demand perspective, we have not lost anything. We have broken the myth that analytics and data sciences is not scalable. We have had distractions from supply side. There has been a lot of news out of India. The reality is we are continuing to grow 6-8 clients per quarter. Mu Sigma is not in the cost arbitrage business, but an innovation arbitrage business.

We are in the out-collaboration business – we create talent, this talent is a combination of business analytics, applied mathematics and programming skills. We have given a whole year with the distractions for our competition to catch up. Now we have woken up again and running.

Are you looking to bring pension funds on board as long term investors?

We are talking to them as always. We have been talking to them for the last ten years. We want to keep a very active play with the investor base. Mu Sigma is very evangelical in its approach and narrative.

What’s your growth trajectory looking like?

We are seeing 20-25% growth per year. Analytics and data sciences are nascent not just in India but also in the US. This is one space, where India is not actually in the catch up game, rather it is leading. Mu Sigma would be the largest company in the commercial space that will be doing data analytics at this scale.

Things are scalable when it’s a man-machine paradigm. We have a subscription model. About 85% of revenue comes from existing customers. Customers stay with us – the revenue in the first year is $700,000 to $2.5 million by second year. Our largest customer does $25-$30 million business with us. We want to make sure we become an exciting destination for young people who want to be a part of the data science revolution.